Sunday, 28 July 2013

Glitter is for life, not just for Latitude [... and other things I learnt at festivals this summer]

Latitude is a festival that just keeps on giving. Each year, the the acts get better, the food gets tastier and those life lessons learnt during one glorious weekend just get more poignant. This summer marked my third time at Latitude and here's some things I learnt:

1. Glitter is for life, not just for Latitude

Glitter is great. There’s not much else in the world that brings that instant feeling of elation quite like glitter; it’s the universal symbol of flipping good fun. Much like a mayor might don their jangly necklaces, one must adorn themselves in glitter upon arrival at a festival, just so everyone knows, the festivities are happening RN.

Unfortunately, no amount of glitter experience can ready you for the day that you open up your makeup bag to reveal an unprecedented glitter explosion. The four, carefully packed tubes of rainbow coloured glitter no longer lay in their protective casing and instead, will cover every little thing that you have packed. One week and several washes later, the glitter is still saturating everything. Make up brushes cling on to last sparkly hopes as you resign myself to unrelenting daily questions of, “is that glitter on your face…”

2. Your night at the Guilty Pleasures disco will be the highlight of your weekend, and perhaps, even your life.

So, it's Friday night, the feeling's just right, headliners are over and you're looking for a good time. You spy the words "guilty pleasures disco" outside the comedy arena and decide to take a wander in. IT WILL BE THE BEST DECISION YOU EVER MAKE. Hours of classic pop whilst a group called 'Sparkle' dance around the stage whilst wearing tennis outfits and Andy Murray masks, confetti falls from the ceiling every half hour and 50 or so giant balloons bounce around the crowd. At some point you'll look deep into your friends eyes are you wind your body down to Shaggy's Mr Bombastic with the mutual realisation that life doesn't get much better.

3. Always consult your boyfriend about what he packing before you arrive.

Or you will pack the same thing. Your boyfriend will then decide to wear it on the same day as you, and you will look like a sleep-deprived Kooples advert gone wrong.

4. Just always take a pop up tent... always.

Let's cast our minds back to 2012 for a moment. Latitude weekend, the weather was dire, festival goers grumbled as water creeped into their cheap 2 man tents. Meanwhile, James & I lay smug as we'd just purchased a fantastic 4-man, warm and waterproof tent. Fast forward to 2013: I was optimistic that our trusty tent would once again reign supreme... until I found out that James would be joining my friends and I Saturday morning and I'd have to set up this monstrous beast all on my own, after a 3 hour drive down to Southwald, after work, and with daylight quickly disappearing. THANK YOU, friends, you helped a struggling sista out.